Karen/Rick Gamma theme set

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#01 – Ring

The first time they met, back when they were five years old and kissing was icky, the encounter ended with a dark, bruised ring around Rick's eye, but he was still as anxious as Karen for the second.

#02 – Hero

Elli and Mary have spent all day talking rapidly, with flushed cheeks and starry eyes, about the story they just finished where the hero rescues his princess, and Rick, ten years old and awkward, wonders wistfully if Karen wants to be rescued, while Karen thinks in perfect satisfaction that she and Rick are better than those people in the story, because they can rescue each other.

#03 – Memory

Neither of them was all that anxious to turn legal drinking age, but almost as soon as he hit eighteen, a couple weeks after she did, they gravitated to the Inn when it turned into the bar at seven-on-the-button, and spent a happy evening swapping childhood memories; and they've done it every week since, but they never seem to run out.

#04 – Box

"So, tell me, Rick," Karen begins, red with suppressed laughter as she removes a tiny item from one of the boxes she's helping him go through in the interest of removing clutter, "is there any particular reason that your mother still has your first pair of big-kid underwear?"

#05 – Run

She thinks it's kind of sweet that he still has that old watch of his father's, but of course she can't say that, because she's not supposed to like that kind of sappy garbage, so she just scoffs that he'd undermine his own efforts to reduce clutter by keeping a watch that doesn't even run.

#06 – Hurricane

Her mother's furious and frantic about it, but when the hurricane warning comes in, her first move is to sprint down to the Poultry Farm, because if she knows Rick, he's probably out in it too, checking one last time that's actually the sixth to make sure all the chickens are comfortable and the door's locked.

#07 – Wings

He tries to be angry with her for it, but it's impossible not to laugh when he recalls Karen shouting in pain as one of the chickens pecks at her toes through her sandals, and booting it a distance while muttering something about a craving for chicken wings.

#08 – Cold

Even after almost a decade and a half, they're still hearing about the time they skipped an afternoon of seventh-grade math to go ice-fishing, both so stubborn that they were determined not to leave their fishing spot until they'd caught enough to feed the whole town, despite stiff, numbed fingers and stinging ears.

#09 – Red

And when they eventually came slogging back hours later, numb, weary, and empty-handed, it was not sympathy that greeted them, but the holy wrath of a frantic Sasha; so even though they both developed terrible colds and ended up off school for a week, they couldn't enjoy it, because their backsides were too red and sore to sit down.

#10 – Drink

"And the scariest thing is," Ann mutters to her father as they watch Karen and Rick laugh and bicker and wrestle at the bar, "they'd be just as rowdy if they were drinking coffee."

#11 – Midnight

"Don't be a dumbass; you're going to freeze," she says brusquely, shrugging back out of his jacket when he drapes it around her shoulders, and he really doesn't feel that cold, because when his hand brushed her arm a little, she shivered, and he thinks it must have been a good shiver, because he isn't on the ground with her boot in his ass.

#12 – Temptation

She'd so love to punch him, Karen thinks wistfully one morning when her head is pounding while Rick seems to be suffering no ill effect from Ann's birthday party last night, but aside from being disgustingly cheerful, he hasn't really done anything, and she stopped beating on him for no reason a long time ago.

#13 – View

All in all, he had fun at the Moon Viewing Festival this year, especially when Karen grabbed his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders for warmth and snuggled up a bit, even if it was a little disconcerting to know that Sasha and Jeff were making the bushes rustle madly a few feet away.

#14 – Music

She's been trying to get him to sing with her in the Music Festival for years now, but he usually just turns red and shakes his head mutely, even though he never hesitates to join in, belting it out even if he doesn't know it, when they're walking in the mountains.

#15 – Silk

As soon as she heard the rumours that Rick had ordered in a Feather specially from Zack, she started going through pattern books, and she's finally decided on a sleek, slinky slip-dress with an asymmetrical hemline; Rick will love it, she thinks with a smug grin, and so will Dad, because it won't take as much material, and after all, really nice white silk is expensive.

#16 – Cover

"Well, I think we've covered everything," Elli concludes cheerfully, her smile wilting only slightly when she notices the horrified looks on both bride and groom at exactly what even a small wedding is going to entail.

#17 – Promise

Rick's the kind of guy who probably couldn't even see the point of lying if he tried, and he's already said that he'll do everything he can to make her happy, so it almost seems unnecessary, when he promises before Carter and the Harvest Goddess and all of Mineral Town.

#18 – Dream

"Give me a break," she mutters, bright red, when he asks question after delighted question about some offhanded comment Mom just made about how Karen always wanted to be a dog trainer when she was a little girl; "It was a long time ago."

#19 – Candle

When Rick comes back to find a sensual playground, complete with scented candles and flavoured massage oil and a leather-clad wife, where their bedroom used to be, he frowns in concern that Karen's been redecorating when she should have been lying down with that headache that kept her home from the bar tonight, and she thinks despairingly that her husband wouldn't know a clever ruse if he stepped in it.

#20 – Talent

"Got any more special talents I don't know about?" Karen asks with a smile of pure contentment, covered in Strawberries n' Champagne scented oil and half-asleep from Rick's unexpected skill with this kind of thing.

#21 – Silence

Years of experience with her moods have finally cancelled out what she lovingly calls his naturally thick skull, and he can usually tell when it's a good time to go for a walk so she can have some peace and quiet.

#22 – Journey

Jeff is a little dubious about it when his daughter and son-in-law announce their intentions of going on a three-day hiking-and-camping trip, because these are the kids that managed to get themselves lost on a treasure hunt that didn't even leave the street, but Sasha just calls cheerily over her shoulder to say hi to Dr. Livingston for her.

#23 – Fire

Mary's a little annoyed, because Karen was supposed to take some notes on the different plants and birds she and Rick ran into for Basil's new book on the variance to be found over a mere fifty miles, and the only information she comes back with is that sex in a sleeping bag is nice, until you get too close to the fire; although, it is good to know what happened to Rick's eyebrows

#24 – Strength

If Karen had known that marrying him and helping out on the Poultry Farm was all she needed to do to free up a little more of his time and energy for fun, she would have done it years ago.

#25 – Mask

"This may surprise you, Rick, but…a mask," she replies with a snort of laughter when he asks grumpily what the hell you're supposed to wear to a masquerade, anyway; and when he snorts and says fine, he'll wear a mask and only a mask, he finds the wind taken very quickly out of his sails by Karen's huge grin and enthusiastic agreement.

#26 – Ice

She really doesn't need to be coddled like this, she thinks, sighing contentedly as Rick repositions the ice pack over her sprained ankle and races off to bring her some lemonade and a book, but clearly, it makes him so happy that she can't bring herself to spoil his fun.

#27 – Fall

For a while, they thought of celebrating their birthdays together, since they were within a couple weeks of each other, the middle and the end of autumn, but that was before they remembered that they'll take any excuse to celebrate.

#28 – Forgotten

"Go away, Elli, this is boy-talk," Karen said severely when her second-best friend in all of kindergarten tried to squeeze into the sandbox with her and Rick; and it sent the little brunette crying under the slide at the time, but now Elli thinks it's hilarious, and told the story at their wedding despite Karen's protests that it never happened.

#29 – Dance

Karen's not looking forward to teaching Rick how to dance, because she has a strong suspicion that he was born with two left feet; so when he ends up taking to it right away and showing some of the other guys how to do it properly, she can only stare, stunned.

#30 – Body

"Okay, maybe his dress sense sucks, but have you ever seen what's under those godawful clothes?" Karen asks conspiratorially, and Popuri shrieks in disgusted horror, of course not, he's my brother, that's gross, and Karen smiles smugly with the knowledge that the subject will be dropped until her sister-in-law can gouge the image from her mind.

#31 – Sacred

"Come on, Rick, give him a break," Karen huffs when she finds her husband and his future brother-in-law blustering over Lillia's decision; "Kai knows that marriage is a sacred bond, and he'll treat Poppi like a princess; and besides," she adds with a terrifying toothy grin, halting Kai's grateful look in its tracks, "he knows that if he does hurt her, we'll kill him."

#32 – Farewells

"I don't freaking believe it," Karen mutters, sniffling and wiping her eyes next to a despondent Rick and a sobbing Popuri; "I'm crying over a goddamned chicken."

#33 – World

"Not really," Karen replies equally softly, dragging Rick's arms around her from behind when he asks wistfully, as they watch Kai and Popuri waving happily from the deck of the boat, if she wishes it was them leaving on a trip to somewhere exciting.

#34 – Formal

"Oh, come on, Karen, you didn't even make me wear this crap for our wedding," Rick protests when Karen announces pleasantly exactly what he's going to be wearing to the opera they're going to see in the city next week.

#35 – Fever

"No, I swear, it's not a hangover this time; she's actually sick," Rick explains frantically to the young couple at the Clinic, a flushed and rambling Karen cradled in his arms like a child.

#36 – Laugh

Rick doesn't mind sometimes playing the clown if it means he can get a laugh out of Karen, because as gorgeous as it is, even her singing can't compare.

#37 – Lies

When she comes home from a trip to town with Mom, she finds Rick in a state of quiet despair because he's heard from some bozo that she has another guy in the city, and he's had it hammered into his head all season that she's really way too good for him until he's started to believe it.

#38 – Forever

"And even if you want to back out of this," she finally concludes quietly, forcing him to meet her gaze with one hand on each cheek, "it's too late, because you're not going anywhere until you swear that you'll come back."

#39 – Overwhelmed

"I just wish he hadn't blacked out so soon," an unrepentant Karen tells Elli darkly as the doctor works over a yowling adolescent male summer tourist to set a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder, and when she thinks about Rick's haunted, miserable expression for the last few days, Elli can't help but agree.

#40 – Whisper

At her mention of their midnight tryst at the beach last night, everyone in the bar abruptly stops talking and stares, and Rick turns bright red and reflects that Karen's got the loudest whisper he's ever heard.

#41 – Wait

Sasha and Lillia both agree that it's high time Karen and Rick start thinking of children; Karen and Rick think that some people sure aren't taking their own admonishments on the importance of patience very seriously.

#42 – Talk

She's got one hell of a headache this morning, and she's lifted her head to order him to shut up, when her eyes light on his enthusiastic smile and sparkling eyes, and she settles back down into the pillows and blankets with a tiny grin of her own and lets him talk.

#43 – Search

"Okay, seriously, how many places can a chicken find to hide?" Karen demands, exasperated, after an hour with still no sign of the missing Horatio.

#44 – Hope

They're both born pessimists, when you get right down to it, but as Karen tells Ann with a smirk, at least they're happy about it.

#45 – Eclipse

On their way home from the summer fireworks, Rick points out with a dopey little grin that they're going to be banned from all future festivals if they don't learn to behave in public; and for her part, Karen has a hard time caring, because she's still feeling a little shaky from the fun things Rick's learned to do with his hands that set fireworks bursting right inside her eyelids to rival the ones in the sky.

#46 – Gravity

"Well, enjoy 'em while you can," Karen sighs when she catches him staring in awe and delight that never seems to lessen, no matter how many times he sees this sight, as she emerges from the shower; "Gravity takes its toll on every woman, and they won't be this nice forever."

#47 – Highway

"Whoa, hold on; you mean, you'd actually try it?" Rick asks incredulously, not quite willing to get his hopes up yet that his crazy idea about renting a big van and driving around the country for a couple weeks has captured his wife's interest, too.

#48 – Unknown

"I don't trust it," Karen declares with a tone of finality, sliding the glass bottle full of a mysterious reddish-purple liquid back onto the pantry shelf, and rolling her eyes as Rick shrugs, retrieves and opens the bottle, and downs half the contents in a few gulps.

#49 – Lock

Ann learned, the hard way, that even the middle of the afternoon doesn't make it safe to burst into Karen and Rick's bedroom unannounced; Karen and Rick learned, the hard way, to invest in a door lock.

#50 – Breathe

The doctor and his pretty little nurse exchange worried glances when, several seconds after the revelation that Sasha and Lillia have finally gotten their way and a little grandbaby is coming, Karen and Rick are still staring, stunned, and they don't seem to be breathing.

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End Notes: Hee! I've wanted to write something about Karen and Rick for a while now. And, as usual, 1sentence turns out to be the answer. 3